New Jersey Local Campaign Finance

Campaign-finance reports use several recurring financial measures.

• Raised is money reported as received by a candidate campaign or committee during the period represented.
• Spent is money reported as disbursed during the period represented.
• Cash on hand is the reported balance remaining at the end of the coverage period. It is not necessarily equal to raised minus spent because prior balances, transfers, refunds, and other transactions may affect it.
• Debts owed is money a campaign reports that it still owes. This measure appears where the source provides comparable debt information.

Reporting periods and balances

Report-period raised and spent figures cover the period identified by that filing. Election-cycle figures are cumulative for the cycle represented. When both appear, they describe different time spans for the same account. Do not add them together. Cash on hand and debts owed are balances at the reporting-period end, not amounts to add to fundraising or spending.

Candidates and shared accounts

Each record also includes identifying information appropriate to the source, such as candidate or committee name, party, race, geography, filing status, reporting period, and source identifiers.

Federal candidate records may include the FEC candidate ID, principal campaign committee, committee ID, individual coverage dates, and the date the source data were retrieved.

State and local records may identify candidate committees, joint candidate committees, political party committees, or legislative leadership committees. A candidate may have an individual account and also belong to a joint committee. An individual report describes that account; shared committee totals cover the whole committee and are not allocated to individual members.

The same joint committee may appear in more than one place to show its candidate relationships. Count its totals only once when comparing records. Aggregate totals count each financial entity once.

Unavailable values and zero

Not reported means no usable financial figure is available for that record. It does not mean the campaign had no financial activity. NJ ELEC views keep missing amounts unavailable.

Federal views use a zero fallback for missing raised and spent amounts in included FEC records. Missing cash-on-hand and debt balances remain Not reported. A displayed $0 in a federal raised or spent field can therefore reflect that fallback rather than an explicit zero in a filing. Candidates without an available financial record should not be read as having no activity.

Campaign-finance views are calculated independently because filing requirements, reporting schedules, and available fields differ across NJ ELEC and FEC records. Rankings and summary totals compare only the records included in the selected view.

Candidate races

For New Jersey county and municipal races, each candidate’s latest included NJ ELEC filing supplies the available raised, spent, and cash-on-hand figures.

Candidates who qualify for a simplified filing method may appear on the certified ballot without the same financial detail available for candidates filing a full R-1 report. When no comparable financial value is available, the visualization displays the amount as unavailable rather than treating it as zero.

Candidate committees and joint candidate committees are treated as distinct financial entities. A joint committee supporting multiple candidates is counted once in aggregate financial totals. Its activity is not duplicated for every associated candidate.

Where a race has no Democratic or Republican candidate, the visualization may display a labeled placeholder so the absence of a major-party candidate is visible. Placeholders are not counted as candidates.

Unopposed on ballot means the number of listed candidates does not exceed the number of seats voters may select and either the Democratic or Republican Party has no candidate. Write-in candidates are not included unless they appear in the certified source data used by the visualization.

Political committees

County party committees, state political party committees, legislative leadership committees, and federally registered state party committees are treated as separate financial entities.

Each committee is counted once in statewide or county aggregate totals, even when it is associated with multiple candidates, races, or related organizations.

Raised and spent figures reflect the cumulative or period totals reported by the applicable source for the coverage period shown. Cash on hand reflects the committee’s reported balance at the end of that period.

Because NJ ELEC and FEC committees follow different filing schedules and reporting rules, totals from separate committee views are not combined into a single cross-source financial total.

Federal races

For U.S. House and Senate races, raised and spent are election-cycle totals from each campaign’s latest included FEC summary. Cash on hand and debts owed are balances at the end of that campaign’s coverage period.

Coverage dates can differ between candidates. A race or statewide summary may therefore combine campaign records ending on different dates.

Federal race totals represent candidate-controlled campaign activity included in the FEC records used by the visualization. Independent expenditures and other outside spending are excluded.

Contribution maps

Where a contribution map is available, it uses a separate set of contribution records for the included candidates or committees. New Jersey amounts are grouped at representative points for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate postal ZIP areas. These points do not identify individual donor addresses. Circle area represents included dollars, and color identifies the recipient’s party.

Contributor-type and candidate or committee filters narrow the contribution display. The out-of-state list shows the largest included state totals for the active filters. A New Jersey map alone does not show every contribution: out-of-state amounts and records without a usable map location cannot appear as New Jersey circles. Compare the map’s coverage and filters before comparing its figures with full financial-report totals.

Missing values and aggregation

NJ ELEC views display unavailable financial amounts as Not reported. Federal views use a zero fallback for missing raised and spent amounts in included FEC records, but keep missing cash-on-hand and debt balances unavailable. This fallback does not establish that a candidate reported no activity. See the field guide for how to read these labels.

Aggregate totals include each financial entity once. Candidate records, candidate committees, joint candidate committees, party committees, and other committee types are not duplicated solely because they are associated with more than one person or race.

Where committee or candidate names change across filings, Public Record NJ may normalize the display name and group records associated with the same entity. Source identifiers and underlying reported financial values are preserved for validation.

Rankings are based on the records available for the selected view and reporting period. Differences in filing dates, filing requirements, or unavailable reports can affect comparisons between entities.